dismantle the hero

these men & women with guns
these hired killers
these individuals who walk with a flag tattooed on their arm
these nationalists by default
these tools of the great military-industrial complex
these robots who get wd-40 squirted on their gears
ever so often,
ARE
NOT
HEROES.

s/he whose statue sits in every country’s capital
displaying for all of its citizens
a visual representation of just what it takes
to sacrifice yourself completely
because others have told you to do so---
in one way or another,
those with property
those who wield power &
those who point the finger at the poor
telling us that
if we worked harder that we could someday be like them,
it is THEY who have started the ball rolling in the mid east
it is THEY who sign the pointless papers which send off the sons & daughters of
the poor,
while never offering up themselves or their own kin for
target practice &
it is THEY who complain when others criticize
what the massive killing force known as the US military
does in the rest of the world
by beating others senseless or dead
in the name of THEIR democracy.

start with dismantling this idea that to do the bidding of the rich
by grabbing a gun & allowing yourself to be sent to the next “enemy” of
ours,
is not what it seems---
YOU ARE NOT A HERO
you are a target, a stopping point between those that the world policeman
has beat so hard that they finally want to retaliate, because they see no other
recourse.

a decent person would flip those tables that sit at the bottom of the subway steps
in poor neighborhoods in this country---
a decent person would flip the tables and run the recruiters off the premises
because they have no place in our communities
recruiting future cadavers.

if you want to be a hero
if you want to do your country good
then do not join the military
do not become a politician &
do not become a business man
for these intertwined dirty/bloody entities
function to rid us of our rights
rid us of our health &
rid us of any chance at survival
not to mention
any chance at happiness, if
there even exists such a thing.

the heroes are the public teachers
who are all getting laid off,
whose funding is constantly being cut &
who are being replace by private schools
the heroes are the firemen
who keep us from being burned alive
the heroes are the doctors & nurses
who keep us healthy
(and who could do so by a system of universal healthcare
like france, england, canada or austraila)
the heroes are the social workers
who help to get us off the streets & back on our feet again
the heroes are the job counselors
who understand how impossible it is & yet they still fight for us
the heroes do not look to be heroes
because someone else told them that they could be
in some 3 minute television ad.